Role of anti‐transglutaminase (anti‐tTG) anti‐gliadin and anti‐endomysium serum antibodies in diagnosing celiac disease: A comparison of four different commercial kits for anti‐tTG determination

摘要

The aims of this study were: (1) to compare the diagnostic efficacy for celiac disease (CD) diagnosis of serum determination of anti‐gliadin (AG) (IgA and IgG) and anti‐endomysium (AE) with that of anti‐transglutaminase (AtTG); and (2) to compare the accuracy of four different assays to measure AtTG. We studied 72 children: the histological diagnosis of CD was made in 38 cases and excluded in the remaining 34 children. In fasting sera we measured AE, AG‐IgA and IgG, and AtTG, the latter with four different commercial kits (Eurospital, Medipan, Inova, Arnika). Moreover AtTG was measured in a group of 58 CD children after a gluten‐free diet. AE was positive in all but 1 case of CD patients (sensitivity = 97%); false positive results were found in 1/34 controls (specificity = 97%). When a specificity of 95% was fixed, the sensitivities were 97% for AE, 83% for AG‐IgA, and 63% for AG‐IgG; the sensitivities of anti‐tTG were 90, 84, 84, and 75% when measured with Eurospital, Medipan, Inova, and Arnika kits respectively. The new AtTG seems to be accurate enough to be proposed as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for CD diagnosis; the 4 kits analyzed showed similar diagnostic efficacy. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 15:112–115, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.